Grow a beard like the Swedes: Podcast Pilot Ep | Fancy a Brew?
From facial furniture to fridge raiders in the desert, daily life is not as you might expect on a UN Peacekeeping operation in one of the world’s most dangerous countries.
Thirsty and need a break? Why don’t you grab a brew and join Lance Corporal Matthew Hughes (Usi), Captain Jonathan Quicke (Quicky) and Sergeant Matt Thurtle (Thurts) in Mali, where they talk about life on tour as part of the UN Peacekeeping mission, MINUSMA.
The three podcast guests are currently part of the Long Range Reconnaissance Group (LRRG) as part of the UN Peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA.
MINUSMA is the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization mission in Mali. When established in 2013, the mission was asked to support the transitional authorities of Mali in the stabilisation of the country.
The role of the LRRG is to conduct long-range reconnaissance patrols to gather intelligence to help the UN better understand how to help the people of Mali. This operation is separate from the deployment of three Chinook helicopters by the Royal Air Force in support of French operations.
In December 2020 the Task Group deployed to Gao as the first rotation of soldiers to take part in the UN mission.
Hear from more from our podcast guests below:👇
🍔 What is the food situation like?
Usi: “The food here is fantastic. You get three good meals a day. you get lots of food, and then there’s milk and then energy drinks and stuff for the boys as well which is good.
Thurts: “It is set up in a buffet style so there’ll be there’ll be salads at the start, you get your water and then you’ve got a main option. It’s a total surprise every day what it’s going to be really in it but on the whole it’s been quite good really, the standard.
“We haven’t had any local food yet although I’ve got a few Gurkha’s on my team, and they’re already gearing up ready to get some good Gurkha curry’s going, so I’m looking forward to that.” — Captain Jonathan Quicke
👀 What will you be up to whilst deployed?
Quicky: “We have about 13,000 troops across MINUSMA, which is the UN organisation out here, and we have come out here to provide a new capability. As a unit that can drive very long distances across desert terrain, why we’ve been called in to help the UN bring peace to the country that has been plagued with quite a lot of terrorism over the last few years.
Thurts: “So we’ll be working at reach, away from some of the main troops, gathering information. So my troops, the human engagement troop are going to try to gather as much information as possible and build rapport with locals and through engagement with leaders and try and pass that information back, and then allow our higher command to make decisions and act from there.
Quicky: “We are operating with loads of other nations: Belgians, Swedish, Germans. We’ve also got some Egyptian soldiers out here, and the Chinese are a big presence within the UN and the French are doing separate operations within the country.
⚽️ What do you do on your downtime?
Thurts: “So at the moment, it’s quite frantic with all the kit getting here and so we are currently establishing ourselves, so once that’s calmed down I’m sure there’ll be time to have a bit few bits we can do during downtime.
Usi: “We’ve had the boxing on a few nights, and the football has been on for the last couple of nights.
Quicky: “I think when we get set up we’ve got football matches planned and we will be trying to play some games, and some sport events for us within the task group.
Thurts: “The lads have been doing a lot of bodyweight stuff for the moment while waiting for the gym to be sorted, and there’s other stuff in the evenings. The guys will phone their families off the satellite phones, which is something we’ve had on most operational tours. And then there’s the BFBS service for most of the sports on the telly so there’s plenty to do.
🧔 Tell us about moustaches
Thurts: “In the UK, we went to Shrivenham first for isolation and a few of the lads decided it’d be a perfect opportunity to grow a bit of facial furniture. They got out here and the Regimental Sergeant Major soon decided that was not a good idea, but he gave us the option of writing a letter to the Colonel if we wanted to go through the correct chain and get it done the right way.
Usi: “So we wrote him a funny letter, put quite a bit of humour in to convince him to grow our moustaches. I’ve got about six weeks to look like Tom Selleck, Magnum P.I, so I’m hoping I can pull that off in the time I’ve been given. I’m pretty confident that I can.
Thurts: “So initially I just wanted a moustache, just a nice simple moustache and kind of shot myself in the foot a little bit because now I’ve got to grow a full set of mutton chops and look an absolute tool walking around camp, but you get what you ask for I suppose.
🏠 What are you missing about home?
Thurts: “So I’ve got my little tribe at home, and obviously I’m going to be missing them. I’ll be missing birthdays etc, which a lot of the lads are.
Quicky: “I’m look forward to a long shower. Obviously being in the desert, there is a limited water supply, so a two-minute shower a day is all you can get, or two one-minute showers which allows you to do a bit of fitness and not feel completely sandy, which is quite nice.
Usi: “I’ve got a girlfriend back at home as well. She’s holding the fort back there for me.”
“You obviously miss them, but this is what we signed up for, this is what every soldier should aspire to be doing so you just put them sort of things to the back of your mind and crack on.” — Lance Corporal Matthew Hughes
